Food & Drink

The Best Ice Cream in Seattle

In a city with so much great food, we wanted to know: What really takes the prize? Our critics tasted dozens of the very best ice creams to find out

By Naomi Tomky August 18, 2018

1_55

This article originally appeared in the September 2018 issue of Seattle magazine.

[addtoany]

This article appears in print as the cover story of the September 2018 issue. Read more from the Best of the Best Restaurants feature story hereClick here to subscribe.

Best of the Best: Sweet Bumpas

The ice cream that Matt Bumpas (a former psychologist, law student and one-time pastry chef at Poppy) serves from his farmers’ market cart and seasonal Georgetown kitchen ($4.50 for a single scoop) brings together his canny creativity and chef training in fantastical flavors like garden mint with cocoa cookie, cinnamon caramel and hokeypokey—made with sweet cream and his own honeycomb toffee.

Fresh, often local ingredients (such as dairy products from Smith Brothers) bolster the flavors, as does making the ice cream base from scratch, rather than the easier, far more common method of using a premade pasteurized base. The result is smoother texture and cleaner taste, making it the best in a city that’s deep into a serious love affair with ice cream, and made all the more endearing by Bumpas’ childlike enthusiasm behind the scoop station.

Sweet Bumpas ice cream. Photo by Alex Crook

Georgetown, 6564 Fifth Ave. S; 206.719.0625; and mobile cart; sweetbumpas.com

OTHER FAVORITES

Sweet Lo’s
Wholesale only; sweetlosicecream.com
TIP: True ice cream addicts in Seattle should sign up for Sweet Lo’s subscription ice cream club and get three pints each month, in flavors exclusive to the club, such as Maple ’n’ French Toast, Grasshopper Fluff and roasted apricot honey.

Kurt Farm Shop
Capitol Hill, 1424 11th Ave.; kurtwoodfarms.com

Salt and Straw
Capitol Hill and Ballard; saltandstraw.com

 

Follow Us

Seattle’s Cool Confections

Seattle’s Cool Confections

Three cold treats to savor this summer

When the sun brings all the vitamin D, it’s time to seek out vitamin I: ice cream, shave ice, soft serve, or anything else cold, portable, and tasty. These are our current favorites in town. 

The Sandwich Goes Gourmet

The Sandwich Goes Gourmet

Seattle is experiencing a sandwich renaissance

Seattle doesn’t have one reigning sandwich, but that hasn’t ruled out sandwich shops from taking root and becoming key players in our food scene...

We Need to Talk About Tivoli

We Need to Talk About Tivoli

How is there not a line out the door?

Each time I return, for the mortadella sandwich with whipped ricotta and “pistachio jazz” at lunch or the black garlic knots at dinner, I marvel that the massive crowds of Seattle dining scenesters have yet to find it.

Fried Chicken Frenzy

Fried Chicken Frenzy

Jollibee opens first Seattle location in Mount Baker   

Jollibee, the largest Filipino fast-food chain, is opening at Rainier Valley Square in Mount Baker June 7. Known for its crispy Chickenjoy fried chicken, chicken sandwiches, and the iconic peach mango pie, Jollibee has amassed a cult following worldwide.